Three herdsmen  have been killed in Sekyere Afram Plains in what is alleged to be a retaliatory attack by aggrieved farmers.

The three were killed in two separate attacks this week at Samso near Drobonso in the Sekyere Afram Plains district.

It  has also left several cattle dead, according to myjoyonline report.

The town has over the years seen a spate of reprisal attacks due to disputes between the farmers and the herdsmen.

Police have also launched a search for a fourth herdsman and hundreds of cattle that have gone missing following the attack.

The clashes follow the murder of the security man of a local plantation firm earlier this month. There are fears the attack on the herdsmen could be retaliation by the farmers who suspect the security man was killed by the nomadic herders.

Meanwhile, some two herdsmen who had earlier been declared missing have been found, with the whereabouts of a third herdsman still unknown.

Police say it is too early to blame the attacks on revenge.

The Effiduase Divisional Commander, ACP Philip Asante, who confirmed the death of three men says two of the deaths were recorded on Thursday morning after unidentified gunmen attacked the herdsmen and their cattle at a camp in the bushes of Samso, killing two on the spot.

"We have another information that another Fulani man [herdsman] has also been killed so we went to the ground and saw that the Fulani guy was killed -- shot in the chest.

"We conducted a post-mortem and buried them because their bodies were almost decomposing. Yesterday [Friday] we had another information that the Fulani man who was killed was moving with his cow so people have started picking the cows to Agogo and be selling them. So we dispatched men there to see the situation at hand and they reported that it wasn't a cow as it was reported but rather it was two men that have been shot dead. They were sent to the Agogo Hospital morgue," ACP Asante said.

Photo (above): Carcasses of cattle killed in the onslaught are scattered in the bush.